Hopkinton's Vintage Books will close its doors in September

After 25 years, Vintage Books, one of the region’s last and best antiquarian bookshops, will close its doors in September.

Chris Bergeron/DAILY NEWS STAFF

After 25 years, Vintage Books, one of the region’s last and best antiquarian bookshops, will close its doors in September.

Founded and owned by Nancy and David Haines, of Hopkinton, the store in a renovated 19th century barn beside their house holds what’s believed to the largest collection of Quaker material in the U.S. As chain stores gobbled up the book market and the Internet changed how people read, Vintage Books has for years offered bibliophiles the vanishing pleasures of browsing a collection of more than 40,000 books.

Nancy Haines said reading habits have changed so fast in a slumping economy, the store hasn’t "paid for itself in four years.’’

"It just felt like the right thing to do,’’ she said from behind the counter. "In this economy, the business of selling books has become very difficult. Now, people are buying eBooks or reading them on their iPads. They don’t browse anymore.’’

She said the store used to sell 50 or more books a week but sales have dropped to around eight to 12 books a week, a decline she attributes to the slumping economy and competition from online sellers. "It’s not all that much fun anymore,’’ said Haines.

As reading habits change, she observed fewer people, particularly the young, treasure printed books as objects of craft, beauty and culture to be shared with friends and passed on to children.

"I think people have lost the joy of serendipitously discovering a book that just grabs their imagination, even if it wasn’t what they came in looking for,’’ said Haines.

She added increased postal rates have hurt the store’s international sales that have been traditionally strong in Japan, England, France and Italy.

Haines is hopeful a prospective buyer will finalize plans to purchase about 7,500 Quaker books, pamphlets, tracts and hymnals and sell them online at

www.Vintagequakerbooks.com. The Haines plan to keep their personal collection of about 15,000 "Quakeriana’’ which they want to eventually donate to a Quaker college.

They are presently selling their remaining holdings of about 25,000 books at a 50 percent discount. Their eclectic collection, which doesn’t include paperbacks, is especially strong in the categories of religion, biography, children’s books, American history and women’s books.

With the store’s projected closing, the Shire Book Shop in Franklin, Barrow Book Store in Concord and Bearly Read Books in Sudbury remain the largest antiquarian bookstores in the region. Several others operate from homes or online.

At the Shire Book Shop, Jack Boland who’s owned the Union Street business with Jean Wallich since 1989, said the Haines have helped keep alive "the love of fine books as repositories of culture and serenity.’’

He paused to find two out-of-print books on dentistry for an elderly dentist from the Shire’s collection of 100,000 volumes.

"In a busy world, antiquarian stores like Vintage Books, and, I hope, the Shire, keep alive the joy of reading and treasuring books,’’ said Boland.

Before finding a shared interest in old books, Nancy and David were raised in Virginia and Ohio, and studied engineering and chemistry, respectively. Now an associate professor, David Haines has taught organic chemistry at Wellesley College for 32 years.

They met in 1986 while sharing a bench at a Quaker service in Sandy Spring, Md., and were married a year later.

The Haines originally opened Vintage Books in downtown Framingham in 1988 in a rented storefront next to Woolworth’s where they remained for five years until higher rents drove them to seek a new site.

While their first store sold used paperbacks, they decided to concentrate on harder-to-find books, including rare first editions and other collectibles, while building their Quaker collection.

After selling the store, Nancy Haines plans to complete a biography of Leslie Hotson, a literary "sleuth’’ and scholar who served with the Friends (Quaker) Relief Unit in France during World War I, and his wife, Mary May Peabody, an educator with progressive views.

Haines said she’s comfortable that she and her husband are making the right decision to close one of the region’s hidden cultural treasures, but hopes younger readers rediscover the pleasures of old volumes.

"Nothing will replace a book,’’ she said.

Vintage Books is located at 181 Hayden Rowe St., Hopkinton. It is usually open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. It is suggested people call 508-435-3499 to confirm. For info, email books@vintagebooks1.com or visit www.vintagebooks1.com.